


Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone

by sweeterthankarma



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/M, Jealous!Dolls, Lots of subtle weather analogies but is anyone going to pick up on them?, post 2x11, they finally talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 01:55:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11864229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweeterthankarma/pseuds/sweeterthankarma
Summary: Anonymous asked, "Hey I've got a fic prompt for Wyndolls. So after all the shit goes down, they finally sit down and talk and they tell each other they love each other."Set post 2x10 / 2x11.





	Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone

**Author's Note:**

> I received this prompt and started writing it before 2x11 aired so the alternate universe specifics (Doc and Dolls shooting each other and dying) aren't included and the way Wynonna was rescued / found doesn't necessarily line up with what happened in canon. Regardless, I hope the anon enjoys this and I did your idea justice! If only these two could just find a minute to sit down and talk. Siiiigh.
> 
> Title is from the song "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers.

Waverly was the one who managed to get Wynonna back. She was tied to the curse, after all, the one who would have to deal with the pain and the cost of saving her love, only to lose her sister. At first, none of them remembered her, although they all- especially Xavier- had a niggling feeling in the back of their mind, that something was wrong. Waverly was the first to remember, and as soon as she had said her name, a rush of relief had ran through Dolls’s veins. Some hole inside of him that he didn’t even know existed felt a little less cavernous at the sound of her name. There were barely any memories, only vague recollections he got at random of things like her laugh or a whiff of some perfume between honey and pine and distinctly  _ her. _ Still, until she stood before him, most of the memories stayed dormant.

When she reappeared, in the middle of the field just on the outskirts of the Ghost River Triangle, and made some joke about just having been away on a trip to Spain, the hole closed up. 

It took a long time before anyone else could hug her. Waverly was sobbing, holding her sister in a grip so tight, rambling on about how sorry she was and how she didn’t know what had happened and she couldn’t stop Gretta but she made a huge mistake and “ _ I’m so glad you’re back, I love you so much." _

Doc was the next to hug Wynonna, even though both Dolls  _ and _ Nicole were standing closer to her, and watching her collapse into his arms made a tinge of envy run sharp down Dolls’s spine. He took a step back in reflex without thinking and Nicole, tears in her eyes like everyone else, put a hand to his arm to still him. 

    “Best for last,” she said quietly, and a glint in her eyes made him realize his feelings, as hidden as they may have been, whether Wynonna was here or not, may not have been as well disguised as he thought.

When Wynonna finally saw him she walked slow, a little bit unsure. Her eyes were on his-  _ Jesus, _ he missed her eyes, blue and deep and indescribably beautiful- and he was suddenly nervous too, wondering if something changed in the time she was away.

But then she lurched forward and she was in her arms before he knows how to react, arms around his middle, face against his chest and he could tell she was crying again by the way her shoulders shake. 

    “It’s okay,” was all he could say in return. It felt dumb, like it wasn’t enough, but he was overwhelmed too. With his memory restored and her in his space again, it’s a ridiculous amount of emotion he was not entirely sure how to respond to. In his defense, feelings were never his strong suit, and honestly, the same applies to Wynonna. He remembered the fights, the kisses, the gazes that held for too long and the lingering touches, how they stood precariously on the edge of friends and something more. Now, things felt even more complicated- he had to explain to her he remembered everything, because he did, he knew he did. Every blank space in his mind was now colored in, emptiness replaced with a smile he didn’t think he could ever forget again. 

The urgency of the situation made him hold on a little tighter, brush his lips against her hair because  _ why the hell not, _ ignore the fact five of their friends were watching them, one being the potential father of the baby of the woman pressed against his chest.

When they finally broke apart, she had kept a hand on his waist, tentative but keeping him close. 

    “I missed you,” she said, and it was a bit too personal, feels too much of a confession in the open space of the valley. The sky had gone cloudy, the air colder than it was in the morning, and when Dolls smiled back at her, a few rays of sunlight peeked out from behind the trees.

    “Yeah,” Dolls said lamely. His grin didn’t break. “Me too.” 

The moment was too long, and Wynonna, equally as unsure on how to handle it, finally stepped out of his space with a light punch to his chest. 

    “You big goof,” she had muttered, finally walking out of his vicinity, but her smile didn’t disappear either. 

  
  
  


Now they’re back at the homestead, and Dolls honest-to-God feels out of place. He watches Wynonna from across the room as she laughs with Waverly at something Doc had said, and he replays the moment she fell into his arms like a teenager reminiscing on their first kiss. That’s not to say he didn’t relive the memories of their first kiss often, because he certainly did, her in that sleek red dress that was all sharp lines and curves and perfect dark curls- but  _ never mind. _

Jeremy comes and sits beside him, handing him a mug of hot chocolate. For a fleeting moment Dolls thinks, “he’s only sitting near me because Doc is occupied”, and he really hates himself, because at what point has he become so jealous of the one-hundred-and-fifty year old gunslinger that they can’t even share friends?

    “Thanks,” Dolls says, but tone is flat. 

Jeremy burns his tongue on his first sip, because of course he does, and Dolls can’t help but notice the ridiculous amount of marshmallows in his cup. 

    “You save any for anybody else?” he asks, and he means for it to be a joke, but as soon as he says it he regrets it because wow,  _ everything _ he’s saying is coming out as jealous.

    “Buddy, relax, there’s like three more bags over there on the counter. Pregnancy cravings, you know how they are. Well, you don’t, actually...and I don’t actually, seeing as we are both males, but...you know. Seeing as we are friends of Wynonna’s, we have to deal with it.” Jeremy trails off with an awkward laugh and proceeds to burn his tongue  _ again  _ on his second swig.

When Dolls only nods in response, Jeremy seems to notice something’s off with him. “Hey, she’s back,” he says, as if that wasn’t evident. “No more sad moping.”

    “I wasn’t moping,” Dolls retorts. “I didn’t even know she existed, none of us did.”

    “Sure,” Jeremy drawls, bumping his shoulder against Dolls’s and spilling some of his hot chocolate on the sleeve of his sweater in the process. “Come on, something was up with you. Remember? We all could tell, even though the rest of us felt fine. I mean...she’s your girl, right? Of course you felt something was off.”

Dolls doesn’t know how to respond to that. He turns his head away from Wynonna to face Jeremy, slow and a little mortified. “What?”

Jeremy grins. “You didn’t really think you were that discreet, did you? Come on,” he says again, “You’re giving her the googly eyes at practically any given moment and she does the exact same to you. You’ve gotta see it, the whole world does. Have you talked about it? I’ll be honest, I don’t really understand girls, and I certainly don’t understand Wynonna, but she definitely loves you.”

Dolls doesn’t know how to answer, especially not to the “googly eyes” part.

    “Um…”

_ "Likes _ you,” Jeremy corrects himself, as if that was the only thing about his statement that was too much. Dolls wants to crawl into a hole and die. 

“We can’t jump to conclusions,” Jeremy continues, “although evidence would say she leans  _ pretty _ close to love. But don’t mark my words, don’t hold me accountable, I don’t want to be at fault if she breaks your little lizard heart and I have to feed you ice cream every day while you cry. Although I wouldn’t  _ hate _ that…”

Dolls laughs with him, normally annoyed at his rambling but unable to ignore the swelling in his chest at his words. He’d be blind to think Wynonna didn’t reciprocate at least some of his feelings, but they’ve never really had the time to talk and life seems to be throwing constant wedges in their plans, as slight as they may be. But Dolls has never felt anything close to what he feels with Wynonna with anyone, and-

    “I know, dude,” Jeremy says.  _ Shit, _ did he say that out loud? This is starting to feel even more like a gross teen rom-com with every passing minute.

    “Look, now’s your chance,” Jeremy points across the room where Wynonna stands alone for the first time all night, eating a handful of marshmallows while stirring her tea. Dolls has to swat Jeremy’s hand away, he’s  _ so  _ obvious. But still, Dolls stands and makes his way towards Wynonna, not without clapping Jeremy on the back and warning him if he mentions this conversation to anyone, he’ll be out a job. Dolls knows he’ll tell someone within the next ten minutes. 

Wynonna looks up with a quiet “hey” when Dolls stands beside her, stops stirring her tea and puts it down. He’s overcome with the urge to kiss her, his heart suddenly aching in his chest at the mere sight of her in front of him, but he restrains himself, leans against the counter instead. 

    “So, what do I have to look forward to on the other side?” He hopes she’ll take it as a joke and won’t get upset; he doesn’t know why he’s been overthinking everything he does around her but the energy just feels different, more charged, as though they’re waiting for something. 

    “I didn’t die, Dolls,” she scolds him, punching his arm and  _ that’s it, _ that’s more normal. “I don’t really know where I was. It was like I was dreaming but I wasn’t really doing anything, I was kind of aware of myself but I kind of wasn’t? Sometimes I could see you or Waverly but it wasn’t clear, I couldn’t tell if it was actually happening or a memory.”

Dolls’s brain goes into work mode, thinking through all the research he had read about physical disappearances and how they manifested in the mind. It had been so hard to find information on what had happened, even less information on how to reverse it. It was weird not really remembering Wynonna but knowing something needed to be done in order to do  _ something, _ in order to make things right. But then he realizes what Wynonna had just said, that she had seen  _ him _ . 

    “Did you see anyone else?” he asks her. 

She shakes her head. “Only you and Waverly,” she says, and her gaze is strong, serious, lasting. They stare at each other, not daring to move closer but watching. The tension is palpable and important and Dolls is just about to move forward, just about to say  _ screw it _ and hold her hand or kiss her or do God knows what else, forget the fact they’re in her kitchen surrounded by her sister and friends, but then she’s doubled over, clutching her stomach before he can move.

    “Shit,” she hisses, and Dolls is holding her, keeping her upright as Doc runs over, Waverly not far behind. 

    “What is it?” Dolls asks. 

    “Baby,” she whispers, and for a split second Dolls thinks  _ holy shit she’s going to give birth _ before she stands up straight. “Just kicking,” she clarifies, having seen the terrified look on Dolls’s face. 

    “Oh,” he breathes. 

She smiles at him. “I’m used to it by now. If you want to, you can…” She motions towards her stomach and Dolls lights up inside, but before he can reach out Doc has both hands on her stomach, crouched down so that his face is almost eye-level with her bellybutton, and he’s looking up at Wynonna with so much innocent joy in his eyes it almost hurts Dolls to watch. He’s reminded once again of the bitter reality that the woman he has feelings for is pregnant with another man’s child, and he feels stupid, feels wrong to even be witness to such an intimate moment. Everyone seems to have forgotten he’s there so he backpedals, grabbing his coat and making a beeline for the door. No one seems to have noticed that he’s left, not even Jeremy, who’s too preoccupied with his marshmallows.

It’s only when he gets to his car and begins searching his pockets for his keys that he hears footsteps behind him. The falling snow in the air blurs his vision a little- it hadn’t been snowing when they’d arrived at the homestead- but he turns, his fingers instinctively wrapping around the gun in his pocket- you really never know who you’re going to run into in Purgatory- but it’s only Waverly. 

    “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” she calls to him, breaking into a trot to catch up to him. She’s wearing those ridiculously tall pink velvet boots that were definitely not made for trudging through snowpiles. 

    “Thought I’d call it a night,” he replies, trying to keep his voice as nonchalant as possible.

    “Without saying goodbye?” Waverly is crestfallen. “We just got Wynonna back and this is how you’re going to be? Walk out without a word? You’re going to ignore her any time she even looks at Doc?” 

He doesn’t reply. Her voice is accusatory but there’s no heat behind her words. She almost sounds sad. 

    “You know, she sent me out here,” Waverly says after a moment. “As soon as you walked out she made me chase after you. She would, but...you know.”

    “Doc’s caught up with the baby, yeah,” Dolls says dismissively. He can’t even appreciate the fact Wynonna wanted him to stay- of course she did, he’s her boss. She needs him to find out more information on wherever she just got transported. That was what they were talking about, after all.

    “No, no,” Waverly has to bite back a laugh. “You know, the whole pregnant thing? Hard to run, hard to move? Especially in snow?”

    “So she sends a girl in five inch heels instead?” 

Waverly rolls her eyes. “Come on,” she says, grabbing his arm and tugging him along. “Come back inside.”

Dolls doesn’t protest. He follows her, boots crunching in the snow, and this time when he walks back into the homestead, it feels like he belongs- not a hundred percent, but a little more than before.

  
  
  


When Wynonna sees him walk back into the house, puffy camouflage coat and orange neck gaiter because he is cold-blooded, after all, she doesn’t know how to react. She’s mad he left, but she’s relieved he came back in, and overall she’s exhausted and hormonal but she needs to talk to him. Waverly had convinced Nicole to let her sleep over at her house- not a difficult feat, by any means- and with the look she gave Wynonna as she headed out the door, Wynonna would be facing some severe repercussions if she didn’t find a way to get Dolls alone and talk to him.

    “So,” Wynonna says first, walking over to him. “You want something to drink? Coffee, bourbon, a taste test of my dandelion and pine needle tea?” She makes a face. “Spoiler alert, it sucks. It kinda helps with the pain though.” She wraps an arm around her stomach and flops on the couch, swearing when she lands on the tv remote.

    “I'd have some whiskey, but I don't want to make you too jealous,” Dolls jokes, sitting beside her. It feels comfortable, feels natural and normal and  _ right  _ to be here with her again- that is until Wynonna gives him a weird look. 

    “You don't drink,” she says slowly. “And you know, I think that’s actually what we need to talk about- jealousy.”

Dolls’s stomach drops, but he tries- and fails, judging on Wynonna’s reaction- to keep a poker face. They’re really going to jump right into it, are they? He’s  _ really  _ not prepared for this, no matter how many uncomfortable pep talks Jeremy gives him.

    “Why'd you leave?” Wynonna asks, and her voice is quiet and sad. It breaks his heart.

Dolls looks away- at the fireplace, at the bag of marshmallows Jeremy had left on the coffee table, at anything but Wynonna’s face. After a moment he clears his throat. 

    “I was just tired, I figured there was nothing you needed me to help out with so I just left.”

    “Bullshit,” Wynonna says. “Don't lie to me, Dolls. I know why you left, and I want you to say it.”

There's a long silence, too long. “You could see Waverly when you were under the spell?” Dolls asks, deflecting. He's weak, he knows it, he hates it, but he can't say it. How can he admit that he's jealous of Doc- who's his friend- for being the father of her unborn child? How can he say that out loud, to her face? As bad as it feels inside, like some teen drama movie, it'd be a thousand times worse to say it out loud to  _ her.  _ He can't do it. 

Wynonna’s pissed. She gets up, muttering under her breath, stalking over to the sink where the dumps her tea and sets her mug down so hard she's surprised it doesn't break. 

    “Yeah, I saw her,” she says, practically through gritted teeth. “And I saw  _ you,  _ Dolls. I saw you too. Only her and you. My sister, the one person who's always been there for me no matter what shit I pull and how badly I screw up...and you. So go figure.” 

There's another long pause. Outside, the wind whips hard. Dolls doesn’t know where his bravery went- when he asked her out to coffee, held her hand across the table, made the move then to break his own rule and actually  _ do relationships  _ for once, he felt like he was sure of the answer he’d get. Obviously, he was let down when he discovered she was pregnant, inevitably with Doc’s child. And then today, when he held her in the field it felt intimate, felt like they were  _ something,  _ but then he saw her with Doc and was reminded of why he tries hard not to get his hopes up.

But now, Wynonna’s words were once again suggesting that maybe, just maybe his feelings were reciprocated. Still, as she stands before him, staring him down, it’s hard to find the words he wants to say.

Wynonna looks like she could cry. He’s seen her cry too many times and he hates to be the cause, never wants to be the cause, but when he woke up this morning he most definitely didn’t expect to be in the middle of this conversation by ten thirty at night. 

    “I missed you,” he manages to say,  _ finally.  _ “I missed you so much, when you were gone. And I…” He has to stop, clear his throat. “I left tonight because I didn’t want to miss you more. Didn’t want to have to watch you with Doc and wish that was me instead. That’s something I’ve done for too long and I’m sick of it.” 

Now that the words are out, more are falling off his lips, breaking the silence and telling the truth. “I know these aren’t ideal circumstances and never have been, but I think it’s about time we be honest with each other. I don’t know what we are, and I don’t know what we’ve been, and I don’t know what you and Doc are-”

    “Me and Doc are nothing,” Wynonna says. The anger has dissipated off her face, replaced with a softness Dolls doesn’t normally get to see. She’s moving closer to him.

    “Because we’re  _ stupid, _ we ended up with this,” she gestures to her belly which she swears is getting bigger by the minute. As terrified as she is of birth, she can't  _ wait  _ to stop carrying this thing around. 

    “But me and Doc were only a one-time thing that happened when we were stressed out and weren’t thinking. He’s my friend and we have an interesting relationship because well, he’s Doc  _ freakin’ _ Holliday. Now he and I have to be partners for this child, but that doesn’t exclude you. Shouldn’t exclude you. This baby’s gonna need more than just a mother, that’s for sure, but thank God for this whole team thing we have going on, as unconventional as it is.”

    “So you want me around, is what you’re saying?” Dolls can’t help the grin on his face, can’t help leaning against the side of the couch, the tension in his shoulders gone as he watches Wynonna with gentle eyes.

    “I want you around, yes,” she says, moving a little closer. “I need you around. You should know that by now.”

With that, she bites her lip and reaches forward to grasp his hand. She moves quick, before she can think better of it and talk herself down from doing what she really wants for once. His skin is smooth and warm, and she’s amazed they’ve never really done this, never just held hands in the most innocent sense, because maybe she’s just hormonal but it is a very, very good feeling. But when did they really get the chance?

    “That’s all I needed to know,” Dolls replies. His free hand skims across her hip and along her back, guiding her closer to him. He smiles down at her, feeling at ease and also feeling really stupid for leaving earlier. She grins back at him, soft and shy, and this time they meet in the middle, break the distance between them together.

Her lips slide against his and it’s better, so much better than the other times because no one’s around, there’s no impending doom- at least not yet- and he can pull her closer without any second thoughts- except, of course, to be gentle near her stomach. When she bites on his lower lip, ever so slightly, his hands cup her ass and she smiles into his mouth.

    “God, how has it taken us this long,” she murmurs against his chest when they’re laying in bed together- and doing nothing more because her stomach is the size of a “jumbo watermelon”, Wynonna’s words exactly. “I mean, this is the second time we’ve slept in the same bed before but the first time we actually  _ talk   _ about feelings.”

    “The world has not been exactly in our favor,” he says, fingers smoothing through her hair. 

    “You can say that again,” she mutters, burrowing closer into the curve of his neck. “It doesn’t seem like I get a lot of say lately. On whether I get possessed by a demon, whether my sister gets possessed by a demon slash goes against my back and works with the Widows, whether I get pregnant, whether I get zapped into some alternate universe...the list goes on and on.” 

    “Hey, we’re gonna figure this out,” Dolls says softly. The room is quiet, except for the crackle of the fireplace. The snow had stopped falling, the wind no longer whistling outside the way it had been. 

    “Whatever we have to do, we’ll figure it out. Together. Don’t worry about it,” he assures her with a kiss to her head. 

    “Okay,” Wynonna says, and she doesn’t sound afraid anymore. She laces their fingers together underneath the sheets, tucking her head underneath his chin- she fits  _ perfectly,  _ just another thing that makes his heart jump in her chest, like just being this close to her wasn’t enough.

When they wake up, the sky is clear and blue and the snow is melting. Dolls wakes her up with a cup of tea and she kisses him in thanks without a second of hesitation. 

    “I think I could get used to this,” he mumbles against her lips.

    “Mm,” she sighs, “me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> For some reason I struggled a bit with the flow of this fic, so I'd love to hear feedback! Feel free to send me prompts in the comments or at my Tumblr under the same username, where I'll be having a live mental breakdown when the season ends in five days.


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